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News About Tech, Money and InnovationTue, 31 Mar 2015 21:06:53 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.1.1Copyright 2015, VentureBeatWhat to Think, Ep. 47: The future of cities with swarms of driverless carshttp://venturebeat.com/2015/03/27/what-to-think-ep-47-the-future-of-cities-with-swarms-of-driverless-cars/
http://venturebeat.com/2015/03/27/what-to-think-ep-47-the-future-of-cities-with-swarms-of-driverless-cars/#commentsFri, 27 Mar 2015 22:30:13 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=1686536In the future, you might not own a car. Instead, you'll get around town by hopping into one of many autonomous pods swarming the streets.
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In the future, you might not own a car. Instead, you’ll get around town by hopping into one of many autonomous 3-wheeled pods swarming the streets.

To get a picture of how we’ll get there, we invited Xerox executive David Cummins to talk to us about the company’s efforts to improve parking — yes, parking — and the future of transportation in cities around the world. He’s the vice president for mobility solutions at the company, which gives him a remarkable perspective on the future: That’s because many big cities use Xerox services to help them process parking payments, plan traffic and parking flows, and get prepared for the future.

In Cummins’ view, automobile ownership is on the decline. Millennials are leading this charge, with many of them deciding that they don’t need to own a car — or even have a driver’s license — when services like Uber, Lyft, or the local public transit system can take them wherever they need to go.

Autonomous vehicles will accelerate that trend. In the coming years, cities may be filled with fleets of self-driving cars — not owned by any individuals — that come to you whenever you need a ride, and drop you off where you need to go. Cities may even put in dedicated “autonomous car lanes,” just as they have started to do with bike lanes.

Cummins chats with me and VentureBeat’s Mark Sullivan about how we’ll get there, and what to expect in the next few years.

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]]>0What to Think, Ep. 47: The future of cities with swarms of driverless carsLoup grabs $1.5M to replace mass transit with private cars on predictable routeshttp://venturebeat.com/2014/12/02/loup-grabs-1-5m-to-replace-mass-transit-with-private-cars-on-predictable-routes/
http://venturebeat.com/2014/12/02/loup-grabs-1-5m-to-replace-mass-transit-with-private-cars-on-predictable-routes/#commentsTue, 02 Dec 2014 17:00:29 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=1616267Buses and private cars both have advantages, and this startup is putting them together.
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I’ll be the first to say it: I use Uber, Lyft, and so on because San Francisco’s public transportation is pretty terrible and not meeting my needs.

Buses are a hot mess and our subway system won’t get you everywhere you need, so these alternative car services are a welcome new option. But what if we rethought private car services, giving them the things we like about public transportation, like predictable routes and lower prices? That’s exactly what a San Francisco startup named Loup is doing, and it’s announcing that it has raised $1.5 million in seed funding.

Loup is a bit of cross between a private car service and mass transit. As with Uber, Lyft, and others, passengers can book a ride through a mobile app. And just like buses and trains, Loup runs predetermined routes and does so frequently. Although Loup’s model offers a lot of flexibility around the vehicles it can use, the company is first starting with black town cars through local limousine companies it has partnered with. It will take a 20 percent cut from each ride.

Loup’s first route will be similar to the San Francisco Muni’s 30x route, ferrying its passengers from the Marina neighborhood all the way to the Financial District during work commute hours. That particular route is a popular starting point for startups seeking to solve the work commute due to the high volume of passengers — both Chariot and the currently quiet Leap Transit got their starts with it.

“The 30x is the reason why this company exists,” said cofounder and chief executive Abtin Rostamian in an interview with VentureBeat. Rostamian himself endured that commute when he first moved to San Francisco and experienced the packed buses that often wouldn’t even pick him up because they were too full.

“The nice thing about a bus is that it’s predictable,” he said. Although timing isn’t always exact because of traffic, bus routes do have predetermined routes passengers can rely on.

That said, Loup’s route will change over time, depending on its users’ demands and as the startup optimizes its routes. They might even change from one day to another if, for example, construction requires a detour.

Loup is also designed to be flexible when it comes to the cars in its system. While it’s starting with the standard black cars which can seat up to three passengers, it can easily contract larger or additional vehicles based on demand.

“It’s our job when demand goes up to fill the capacity up with more vehicles,” Rostamian said. He declined to share exactly how many cars and companies Loup is contracting with, however.

Ultimately, Loup wants to become an alternative to public transit but with the upsides of the private car service for more than just commuting to work. Sure, lots of people take UberX or Lyft to go to work or to the grocery store, but they could also hop into a Loup ride. Loup’s current $2.50-$6 prices are already fairly competitive when compared to an UberX or Lyft ride and their respective carpooling services, and they have the potential of getting even lower. By comparison, Chariot, whose buses service the work commute, currently charges $4 or less per ride regardless of which pick-up and drop-off locations a passenger chooses. The prices vary based on the number of rides passengers purchase ahead of time.

The company is also learning from others’ mistakes, namely by starting with professional drivers, doing its own background checks on top of the ones their partnering driving services do, and staying away from public bus stops.

Loup was founded in 2014 by Aptin Rostamian and Jimmy Ku, and is based in San Francisco.

]]>0Loup grabs $1.5M to replace mass transit with private cars on predictable routesThe rise of Uber and the demise of taxis, in one charthttp://venturebeat.com/2014/09/18/the-rise-of-uber-and-the-demise-of-taxis-in-one-chart/
http://venturebeat.com/2014/09/18/the-rise-of-uber-and-the-demise-of-taxis-in-one-chart/#commentsThu, 18 Sep 2014 17:55:04 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=1555520The taxi business has taken a massive hit thanks to the extraordinary rise in ride-sharing services. A new report from the San Francisco Metropolitan Transportation Agency finds that since 2012, the average number of trips per taxi has plunged from 1,424 a month in March 2012 to 504 in July 2014 — a 65 percent drop. The report […]
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The taxi business has taken a massive hit thanks to the extraordinary rise in ride-sharing services. A new report from the San Francisco Metropolitan Transportation Agency finds that since 2012, the average number of trips per taxi has plunged from 1,424 a month in March 2012 to 504 in July 2014 — a 65 percent drop.

The report underscores how fast consumers will take advantage of better options once they are available. A recent study from UC Berkeley found that during the evening rush hour, 92 percent of ride-sharing services such as UberX and Lyft arrived in under 10 minutes, while just 16 percent of taxis did so. Thirty seven percent of taxis took longer than 20 minutes.

The same study found that 39 percent of ride-sharing users would have taken a taxi had Uber or Lyft not been available.

Rather than trying to out-innovate their new competition, taxi groups have pressured the state government to impose paralyzing regulations. While Lyft, Uber, and Sidecar all recently added a feature whereby drivers can pick up passangers on their way to a destination, just this week, the California Public Utilities Commission deemed this new carpooling feature illegal. (Lyft has vowed to continue the service, despite the legal threats.)

We can expect more of this type of political infighting between taxi groups and ride-sharing startups. But if the graph is any indication, consumers have already chosen a winner.

]]>0The rise of Uber and the demise of taxis, in one chartRelayRides raises additional $10M for expansion, Android app creationhttp://venturebeat.com/2014/08/12/relayrides-raises-additional-10m-for-expansion-android-app-creation/
http://venturebeat.com/2014/08/12/relayrides-raises-additional-10m-for-expansion-android-app-creation/#commentsWed, 13 Aug 2014 06:00:28 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=1525613Airport car-rental service RelayRides just received $10 million in funding to push expansion and fuel app development.
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Investors are really into car rentals right now.

RelayRides just raised an additional $10 million in funding, following a $25 million Series B round that closed just six weeks ago. The reason? Investors were still interested in putting money into the company following the close of the round, according to one report.

The additional money will help the company push forward with its plans to improve its products and get an Android app to market much faster. It currently has an iOS app that lets people set up car rides from anywhere. The company also plans to expand its locations to serve a greater number of airports all across the U.S. Right now, the company has just one location at San Francisco International Airport, but the added funds should enable it to expand its concierge service to additional airports.

To encourage this expansion, the company is adjusting its pricing structure to ensure people who offer up their cars for rental get a bigger cut. It now starts at $0.20 per mile, and those with luxury cars can make $0.40 per mile, but it all depends on how new the ride is. Rental rates are also decreasing considerably. The new daily rate starts at $10.

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]]>0RelayRides raises additional $10M for expansion, Android app creationUber & Lyft sued by legion of cab companies after launching in Connecticuthttp://venturebeat.com/2014/05/22/uber-lyft-sued-by-legion-of-cab-companies-after-launching-in-connecticut/
http://venturebeat.com/2014/05/22/uber-lyft-sued-by-legion-of-cab-companies-after-launching-in-connecticut/#commentsThu, 22 May 2014 14:12:26 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=1478694Uber and Lyft are parasites, 14 local cab companies are claiming in a new lawsuit. Less than a month after Uber and Lyft launched their ride-sharing services in Connecticut, 14 local cab and car companies yesterday filed a collective lawsuit against the startups in the U.S. District Court of Connecticut. The suit, unique for the number of transportation companies involved, […]
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Uber and Lyft are parasites, 14 local cab companies are claiming in a new lawsuit.

Less than a month after Uber and Lyft launched their ride-sharing services in Connecticut, 14 local cab and car companies yesterday filed a collective lawsuit against the startups in the U.S. District Court of Connecticut. The suit, unique for the number of transportation companies involved, alleges that Uber and Lyft “prey parasitically on established taxi and livery services.”

The plaintiffs, following the rhetoric of countless other transportation-startup lawsuits, claim the companies are “lying” to customers, “forcing taxi and livery drivers who sign up to violate licensing laws and contracts with vehicle owners, and discriminating unlawfiilly [sic] against handicapped, elderly and less wealthy users of public transportation.”

Key to this lawsuit and many others is Uber’s network of drivers, who function as independent contractors, or small businesses — not employees. Such a system allows Uber to function as a technology layer for these contractors; the two companies “own no cars, no certificates, no permits, no plates, and employ no drivers,” the lawsuit states.

In short, the Defendants prefer to pay nothing for infrastructure and profit from the investment of lawful certificate, permit, and plate users … The Defendants adopt illegal methods because they can only operate profitably by misappropriating the infrastructure of existing taxi and livery services. There are dozens of smart phone taxi dispatching apps, any one of which could — if they chose to operate illegally — beat the Defendants at their own game.

Uber and Lyft’s ongoing legal battles are the result of the firms’ entrance into a highly regulated industry with little legal protection for non-traditional transportation services. The rapid rate at which both companies have expanded is fueling the litigious flame.

Uber now faces roughly 14 lawsuits in the U.S., while Lyft, smaller in size, faces roughly half that number, according to legal documents obtained by VentureBeat.

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]]>0Uber & Lyft sued by legion of cab companies after launching in ConnecticutAs Uber battles 13 lawsuits, cabbies & state agencies are out for blood (update)http://venturebeat.com/2014/05/08/as-uber-battles-13-lawsuits-cabbies-state-agencies-are-out-for-blood/
http://venturebeat.com/2014/05/08/as-uber-battles-13-lawsuits-cabbies-state-agencies-are-out-for-blood/#commentsThu, 08 May 2014 15:54:35 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=1465777If cab companies and state officials get their way, they'll regulate Uber to death.
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Updated May 8 10:20 a.m. Pacific to reflect the total number of state insurance agency warnings.

If cab companies and state officials get their way, they’ll regulate ride-sharing service Uber to death.

Ambitious transportation startup Uber now faces at least 13 active lawsuits in the U.S. and is under fire from 11 state insurance agencies over its insurance practices.

You’d think the firm would be busily working the phones for damage control, but it’s not — Uber’s spokesperson and head of corporate communications, Andrew Noyes, has left the company. The former Facebook public policy manager originally joined Uber less than 12 months ago.

Since Noyes’ unexplained departure, Uber has nearly gone dark; only the unresponsive company’s expansion plans are clear. Not long after it announced its 100-city milestone, VentureBeat discovered a series of job listings revealing Uber’s next batch of cities. Future offerings, including the Family service, reflect Uber’s continued plans to disrupt the traditional ground transportation industry.

And disrupted they are.

Uber v. taxi lobby

State insurance agency officials from 11 states — including California, Ohio, Nebraska, Connecticut, and Minnesota — are lining up to condemn Uber for its insurance “coverage gaps.” While the states in question have issued statements of their own, one organization is drastically amplifying the message: the Taxicab, Limousine & Paratransit Association, a nonprofit that claims to include “1,100 regulated transportation companies.” (Note the use of the term “regulated.”)

For colorful commentary, we called Dave Sutton, the spokesperson for the Taxicab, Limousine & Paratransit Association’s “Who’s Driving You?” initiative. According to Sutton (emphasis: VentureBeat):

We’ve been warning about the risks, and now you have insurance experts in all these different states warning people. Insurance is very simple. Private drivers will not be covered by their insurance. …The ridesharing companies have said, “Well, our policies are supplementary,” but insurance experts are saying that this is not acceptable. The only way to provide coverage for driving commercially is commercial coverage.

Our members have a financial interest in this — yes, they do. But what we are talking about is public safety.

In the limited cases where Uber responded to our numerous requests for comment, the company called the Taxicab, Limousine & Paratransit Association’s campaign “a scare tactic.” (emphasis: VentureBeat)

The ‘Who’s Driving You?’ campaign is nothing more than the taxi lobby trying to protect an antiquated industry from competition and consumer choice.

Uber complies with all laws and regulations applicable to its business. Any claim to the contrary is baseless and motivated by those who seek to deprive the public of this safe and convenient transportation option. Uber would rather compete for business on the streets of San Francisco than in the courtroom, but Uber will defend these claims in court and is confident of the outcome.

That 2012 lawsuit was eventually dropped. But for Uber, it was only the tip of the start.

The lawsuits: Regulation, insurance, and death

While Uber battles two insurance-related lawsuits, the company is also under attack from drivers for allegedly withholding tips and for allegedly sidestepping industry regulations. On the most extreme end of the spectrum, Uber is wrestling a wrongful death lawsuit after a purported Uber driver struck and killed a 6-year-old girl this past New Year’s Eve in San Francisco.

According to Uber communications team member Lane Kasselman, these lawsuits are largely frivolous:

Despite often frivolous lawsuits filed by anti-competition taxi interests, the critical fact is that in no us [sic] city has a court decided that Uber can’t operate.

Yet Uber drivers are reportedly facing fines from legal authorities in New York and Tampa Bay, Fla. Given the century-old, highly regulated industry in which Uber operates, these roadblocks are unsurprising. However, the company’s aggressive growth has shifted the narrative.

What we have now is a pile-on. At best it will disincentivise Uber to innovate and bog it down for years in legal limbo. At worst, it will kill off Uber and suffocate its competitors along with it, including Lyft and Sidecar.

According to Silicon Valley legend Marc Andreessen, Uber’s software “eats taxis.” But for Uber chief Travis Kalanick, these conflicts are just par for the course.

This is what happens when you destroy an antiquated system. Unless that system destroys you first.

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]]>0As Uber battles 13 lawsuits, cabbies & state agencies are out for blood (update)Google now features Uber as a transportation option in Google Mapshttp://venturebeat.com/2014/05/06/google-now-features-uber-as-a-transportation-option-in-google-maps/
http://venturebeat.com/2014/05/06/google-now-features-uber-as-a-transportation-option-in-google-maps/#commentsTue, 06 May 2014 16:48:56 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=1467842Gaming execs: Join 180 select leaders from King, Glu, Rovio, Unity, Facebook, and more to plan your path to global domination in 2015. GamesBeat Summit is invite-only -- apply here. Ticket prices increase on April 3rd! A major win for Uber is hidden within today’s Google Maps update for iPhone and Android. Alongside new features like more easily accessible offline maps and lane guidance, […]
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Alongside new features like more easily accessible offline maps and lane guidance, Google now lets you “call an Uber from Google Maps.”

But Google Maps won’t simply recommend users to take an Uber; instead, the app allows users to compare estimated Uber travel times with transit and walking directions, according to a statement provided to VentureBeat by email.

If you have the Uber app installed, in some cities, you can now compare it with transit and walking directions right from Google Maps. And if you choose the Uber option, you’ll jump right into the Uber app with just one click.

It’s noteworthy that competing transportation startups, such as Lyft, were not included in this release. We have reached out to Google with a request for comment on the matter.

Uber has a close relationship with Google Ventures, Google’s venture capital arm. It’s unclear if this relationship led Google to favor Uber over competing services, but a recent tweet from Google Ventures partner David Krane suggests some involvement:

As for the lane guidance feature, Google shares that its Maps app now “shows you which lane to stay in or move to” ahead of your next turn or exit. Google already offered offline mapping functionality, but now the feature is more readily accessible.

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]]>0Google now features Uber as a transportation option in Google MapsCitymapper just got off the funding bus and is now $10M richerhttp://venturebeat.com/2014/04/17/citymapper-just-got-off-the-funding-bus-now-10m-richer/
http://venturebeat.com/2014/04/17/citymapper-just-got-off-the-funding-bus-now-10m-richer/#commentsThu, 17 Apr 2014 21:26:12 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=1451578Citymapper helps you get around your city so well that it just close its first funding round.
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Ride-sharing startups may be red hot, but what about public transportation? And what about good, old-fashioned walking?

Urban transportation tracker Citymapper just racked up a fresh $10 million to keep helping people take advantage of public transit, sidewalks, and everything in between. Balderton Capital led the round — Connect Ventures, Index Ventures, Greylock Partners, and a host of angels also chipped in.

Citymapper got its start with bus riders and eventually evolved into the all-encompassing transport app that it is today. Today, its apps provide real-time information about public transit, road disruptions, weather details, and anything else urban travelers could need to make it from point A to point B.

“We believe cities are complicated. And your mobile should save you from the everyday challenges of living in them,” the company says on its website.

“We’re motivated by solving hard fundamental everyday problems that improve the quality of people’s lives. We like simplifying complexity, reinventing user experience, working with data, shipping fast, and humanizing a serious space.”

In a blog post, Balderton Capital partner Bernard Liautaud commented that crowdsourcing (Waze-style) could be in Citymapper’s future.

“We also see a major opportunity in crowdsourcing data to provide real-time information on disruptions and journey times, for which the company already receives a stack of feedback from its users every day,” he said.

Other transit apps, such as Moovit and Apple-owned HopStop, have already started to leverage crowdsourcing, showing that the idea has legs.

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]]>0Citymapper just got off the funding bus and is now $10M richerFacebook to test Bay Area ferry service for employeeshttp://venturebeat.com/2014/02/12/facebook-to-test-bay-area-ferry-service-for-employees/
http://venturebeat.com/2014/02/12/facebook-to-test-bay-area-ferry-service-for-employees/#commentsThu, 13 Feb 2014 05:00:24 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=895596Facebook is the latest Silicon Valley-based tech company to ferry workers by boat across the San Francisco Bay.
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Facebook is the latest Silicon Valley-based tech company to ferry workers by boat across the San Francisco Bay in the hopes of offering a convenient, traffic free way to commute to work.

The 53-foot charter boat — christened the New El Dorado III — will operate on Tuesdays and Thursdays for a 90-day trial following the initial Feb. 4 launch. At this point, the vessel is making a single trip in the morning from San Francisco to Redwood City and one return trip in evening, a Facebook spokesman told the San Francisco Chronicle.

The Facebook taxi is a catamaran that can carry about 30 people. Amenities on the marine version of the notorious private tech shuttles include Wi-Fi, coffee, and snacks. The Tideline Marine Group owns and operates the ferry. The Port of Redwood City is charging a $95 per day docking fee to Facebook, as well as $1.75 for each rider. Once in Redwood City, the Facebook employees take a 10-minute shuttle to the main office in Menlo Park.

Facebook’s adventure at sea follows a number of maritime efforts from Google. In the fall, the appearance of the then-mysterious “Google Barge,” which turned out to be a really fancy showroom for the search giant’s new toys. The company launched two ferries — one from San Francisco and the other from Oakland — to help its employees commute to Mountain View.

It’s hard to say exactly why ocean-going vessels are seen as a solution to the Bay Area’s well documented traffic problems, but it might be a response to the regional backlash against the private tech shuttles. Such shuttles are seen by many as a potent symbol of the tech industry’s hubris, and they have generated numerous, sometimes violent protests in the past several months.

Whether or not Facebook’s taxi will be given the “Greenpeace treatment” (as in blockading the vessel at sea) is hard to know at this point. But, despite the controversy, many transit officials in the region see private transportation options as a useful solution to reduce congestion and tailpipe emissions. The Facebook ferry, after all, is potentially taking 30 cars off the road every day.

]]>0Facebook to test Bay Area ferry service for employeesUber tries to win back goodwill by slashing UberX prices across countryhttp://venturebeat.com/2014/01/09/uber-tries-to-win-back-hearts-and-minds-of-users-by-slashing-uberx-prices-across-country/
http://venturebeat.com/2014/01/09/uber-tries-to-win-back-hearts-and-minds-of-users-by-slashing-uberx-prices-across-country/#commentsThu, 09 Jan 2014 18:54:09 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=881117Amidst a fire storm of controversy over the death of six year old girl and surge pricing during peak hours, Uber is attempting to win back your heart in a time-tested way -- by getting cheaper.
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Amid controversy over the death of 6-year-old girl and surge pricing during peak hours, Uber is attempting to win back your heart in a time-tested way — by cutting its prices.

“What if Uber was actually the cheapest ride in every Uber city?” Uber CEO Travis Kalanick said in a blog post. “Some have asked how we do it. How can we keep getting prices down over time? More cars and drivers mean better coverage and lower pickup times. Lower pickup times mean better economics for drivers, and thus more drivers and cars.”

The company is cutting UberX prices in 16 out of its 24 markets. The new fares are now up to 34 percent lower in Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Orange County. Minneapolis, Atlanta, Sacramento, Tucson, Denver, Dallas, Baltimore, Charlotte, and Nashville also receive price cuts.

Kalanick claims that on average, UberX is 26 percent cheaper than a taxi. He adds that the new prices also undercut competitive ridesharing services such as Lyft and Sidecar. He goes so far as to say that with the fare-splitting feature, it could be cheaper than the bus.

However Lyft CEO John Zimmer disagrees.

“Uber prices will still be higher,” Zimmer told VentureBeat. “What does a price decrease mean when there is 8x surge pricing? It’s classic bait and switch and consumers see through that.”

Uber is a popular app for hailing cars to you on-demand. It started out as luxury black car service and has since added SUV, regular taxis, and UberX, where drivers pick you up in regular cars. Kalanick built Uber’s brand around the ideas of professionalism, reliability, and quality. He is also known for being fearsomely competitive and doing whatever it takes to overcome regulatory challenges and edge out competitors.

But over the past couple months, Uber riders began complaining that the quality of the service has slipped, wait times are longer, and price spikes during busy times.

“The price must go up for these rides to happen,” Kalanick said in a video interview with the Wall Street Journal. “If surge pricing doesn’t happen, there is no availability. You can’t get a ride.”

Whether or not it makes economic sense, no customer likes paying more (or feeling like they are paying more) for a ride.

Uber has some damage-control to do. And what better way to keep customers than by becoming the cheapest option in town?

This is the latest in a series of cuts. Uber lowered prices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, and Washington D.C. last year shortly after raising $258 million in financing. The “ridesharing wars” between Uber, Lyft, Sidecar, Flywheel, and traditional cabs are heating up, and cost is a major battleground.

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]]>0Uber tries to win back goodwill by slashing UberX prices across countryHow scientists put data to work for weather and transportationhttp://venturebeat.com/2013/12/05/how-scientists-put-data-to-work-for-weather-transportation/
http://venturebeat.com/2013/12/05/how-scientists-put-data-to-work-for-weather-transportation/#commentsThu, 05 Dec 2013 21:17:26 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=868727We asked data scientists from Lyft and the Weather Company to tell us how they're providing very real business value.
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REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — People often speak about data scientists as if they’re magicians.

We hear that these elite statisticians can pull data from an Excel spreadsheet and somehow churn out insights that can inform business strategy.

However, these scientists can’t provide a magic solution for a company in decline or turn raw data-sets into gold. However, they are essential for a company that wants a clear set of ideas for how to use its mountain of data. At VentureBeat’s DataBeat/Data Science Summit, we asked data scientists from Lyft, the Weather Company, and other companies to tell us how they’re providing very real business value.

Lyft

Lyft has developed iPhone and Android apps that orders rides from strangers in a matter of minutes. The startup just netted $60 million in venture funding from Andreessen Horowitz and a number of other venture firms, so it can afford to build a data science team.

The company has succeeded in recruiting some top analytics talent. Senior data scientist Chris Pouliot formally joined the Lyft about three weeks ago; he previously worked at both Google and Netflix.

Pouliot has only been in the job for a short time, but he already has a plan for how to improve the user experience. Currently, Pouliot is collecting traffic and map data to determine exactly how many minutes it will take for a driver to reach their destination. “We have to set expectations for our customers,” he said.

Another tricky problem: Oftentimes, two or three cars are about five minutes away from a passenger. While sending the closet car seems like the simplest solution, Pouliot is developing an algorithm to determine the likelihood that another customer will call a car in the next three or four minutes. So Lyft won’t just send the nearest car — it will send a car that is nearby and unlikely to be in near the next passenger who may call for a car.

Pouliot is also considering taking a deeper look at demographic data, so Lyft can target its advertising to appeal to a new segment of customers.

Above: The Weather Company’s Vikram Somaya kicked off his talk by reciting Shakespeare.

Image Credit: Michael O'Donnell

The Weather Company

The Weather Company is another big brand that is increasing investing in its data science team. The giant recently bought a startup, Weather Underground, which crowdsources information from 30,000 people with weather detectors on their property. So the company is now armed with even more data about hyper-local weather trends.

In the wake of this acquisition, we invited Vikram Somaya, a general manager at the Weather Company (and a highly charismatic speaker, who reeled off weather quotes from Shakespeare) to discuss how the company plans to leverage all this data.

According to Somaya, retailers are realizing that even the most minor weather changes have an effect on buying habits. An e-commerce provider, for instance, might send an alert or e-mail to customers in Western Michigan about a discount on a pair of gloves, knowing that the weather just dipped 5 degrees. “We went out and spoke to large marketers we already had relationships with,” said Somaya. “We were skeptical, but adoption happened far faster than we thought.”

According to Somaya, the company now boasts about 200 clients, which includes Fortune 100 companies. These customers are automatically modifying and optimizing marketing messages across a variety of channels.

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]]>0How scientists put data to work for weather and transportationUber on track to make $210M on over $1B of rides in 2013 as revenue jumps 68%http://venturebeat.com/2013/12/04/uber-on-track-to-make-210m-on-over-1b-of-rides-in-2013-as-revenue-jumps-68/
http://venturebeat.com/2013/12/04/uber-on-track-to-make-210m-on-over-1b-of-rides-in-2013-as-revenue-jumps-68/#commentsWed, 04 Dec 2013 19:37:14 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=868199On-demand car service Uber, which took in $258 million in funding this past quarter, may be blowing its projected revenue and growth numbers out of the water. According to an internal company key metrics dashboard leaked to Gawker, the service is on track to record $210 million in revenue for 2013 on over $1 billion […]
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On-demand car service Uber, which took in $258 million in funding this past quarter, may be blowing its projected revenue and growth numbers out of the water.

According to an internal company key metrics dashboard leaked to Gawker, the service is on track to record $210 million in revenue for 2013 on over $1 billion in rides, while also adding close to 80,000 new clients a week and growing its active clients to over 450,000. The company is also completing over 800,000 rides a week on well over a million requests.

Those are stupendous numbers for the company — assuming the dashboard is real.

CEO Travis Kalanick said recently that the company was growing more than 20 percent per month and that many cities are generating more than $100 million a year, which makes the leaked numbers at least in the ballpark.

Revenue seems to be over $20 million a week for all of Uber, according to the dashboard, which adds up to almost $1.1 billion annually. But that — and the “$100 million a year” comment — would have to refer to gross revenue, most of which goes to the cab drivers and other drivers that Uber contracts with to deliver the actual taxi service, while the $210 million is an estimate of how much Uber gets after drivers get their cut.

“Every fully utilized car on the Uber system grosses over $100,000/year,” Kalanick said recently. “This kind of expansion means hundreds of thousands more cars must come onto the Uber system.”

Uber had no comment on the leaked revenue numbers, but its investors must be salivating, considering that the $258 million invested was pumped into a company that at the time had a projected annual revenue for 2013 of only $125 million. Which means that revenue is up a massive 68 percent from projections issued just a few months ago.

More information:

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]]>0Uber on track to make $210M on over $1B of rides in 2013 as revenue jumps 68%California approves first statewide guidelines to legalize ridesharinghttp://venturebeat.com/2013/09/19/california-approves-first-statewide-guidelines-to-legalize-ridesharing/
http://venturebeat.com/2013/09/19/california-approves-first-statewide-guidelines-to-legalize-ridesharing/#commentsThu, 19 Sep 2013 19:22:54 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=815107California regulators have officially approved a set of guidelines that allow ridesharing services like Lyft, SideCar, and Uber to remain in business. This could create a powerful precedent for cities around the country.
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Cab companies, brace yourselves. Ridesharing is here to stay.

California regulators have officially approved a set of guidelines that permit ridesharing services like Lyft, SideCar, and Uber to remain in business. This is the first time a state has set statewide regulations for ridesharing, and this could create a powerful precedent for cities around the country.

The California Public Utilities Commission created a new category called “Transportation Network Company.” Companies under this category must be licensed by the CPUC, require criminal background checks for each driver, establish a driver training program, implement a zero-tolerance policy on drugs and alcohol, and adopt a more stringent insurance policy than the commission requires for limousines.

Assuming they follow these guidelines, ridesharing services are legal.

Startups like Lyft, SideCar, UberX, and InstaCab have experienced a meteoric rise during the past year. Despite popularity from consumers, this rise has been fraught with conflict and legal battles.

Ridesharing services (like those listed above) connect passengers with drivers via a mobile app. Drivers are not licensed taxi drivers, but regular people who have cars and are looking for some extra cash.

Cab drivers and regulators protested that these companies operate illegally, without proper safety, insurance, or precautions. Professional drivers are highly regulated, legally insured, and drive regularly inspected vehicles. Cab “medallions” (permits) can cost more than $250,000 and are hard to come by.

The cab industry remained largely unchanged for decades. Cabs are expensive and not always accessible, particularly in cities such as San Francisco. This situation inspired entrepreneurs to create more cost-effective, consumer-friendly, efficient systems.

These new technology-enabled systems pose a significant threat to traditional cab companies, but passengers, unsurprisingly, are thrilled with the alternative. Customers have powerfully advocated to get legislators behind ridesharing.

“The commission is aware that TNCs are a nascent industry,” the proposal said. “Innovation does not, however, alter the commission’s obligation to protect public safety, especially where, as here, the core service being provided — passenger transportation on public roadways — has potential safety impacts for third parties and property.”

Lyft’s CEO John Zimmer said that Lyft was taking these safety measures already.

Now the state has accepted this proposal, which could become a model for other municipalities that are willing (or forced) to embrace this change.

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]]>0California approves first statewide guidelines to legalize ridesharingLyft doubles rides per week as founders gear up for international expansionhttp://venturebeat.com/2013/09/09/lyft-doubles-rides-per-week-founders-gear-up-for-international-expansion/
http://venturebeat.com/2013/09/09/lyft-doubles-rides-per-week-founders-gear-up-for-international-expansion/#commentsMon, 09 Sep 2013 18:00:06 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=810172Founders of popular ridesharing service Lyft discuss the competitive market and their vision for the company's future.
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SAN FRANCISCO — Lyft’s cofounders John Zimmer and Logan Green are want to redefine how people get where they need to go.

“We want to break this idea of a service relationship between driver and passenger — they are equals,” said Lyft cofounder Logan Green on stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2013. “The pink mustache has translated in every market so far. The Lyft driver going down a street creates a mystique around it. People want to know what’s going on, and this creates a viral word-of-mouth effect.”

Lyft is a popular peer-to-peer alternative to taxi cabs where drivers adorn their cars with pink fuzzy mustaches. You order a ride through an iPhone or Android application, and the driver picks you up at your location and squires you to your destination. You will probably fist bump the driver and chat along the way — the company’s tagline is “your friend with a car.”

Zimmer and Green founded Zimride in 2007, a national ridesharing service with a strong presence on college campuses. Lyft was launched in 2012 and quickly took off.

“I’d never experienced this kind of pull from users,” Zimmer said. “In the last three months, we have doubled the number of rides we are doing per week and recently completed the 1 millionth ride. We want to maintain the sense of community while going as fast as possible.”

“The taxi industry has been around for decades and decades, and there is a lot of regulatory crust,” Green said. “When we go into a market, part of what we do is shine a light on these policies. Regulators realize that they have put unfair versions of policies and some regulators are looking at pulling back some of those regulations that aren’t helpful for an industry as a whole.”

The California Public Utility Commission recently came out with a proposed decision that would permit ridesharing startups like Lyft to operate as long as they follow certain regulations. Every market presents a new set of challenges, and there are a number of rivals battling it out for dominance. Lyft competes with Uber, SideCar, Instacab, Hailo, RelayRides, and Flywheel as well as traditional taxis.

Uber started out by providing on-demand black car service. The company has since expanded to also connect passengers with low cost rides through UberX and traditional taxis, and it announced it would launch a ride-sharing platform. It is now valued at $3.5 billion and just closed a whopping $285 million in funding to fuel expansion.

Last week, Uber offered passengers free rides in Lyft’s three recently opened markets.

However, Zimmer and Green said they don’t see Uber as a threat.

“Uber was in San Francisco for two to three years when launched, and we are thriving here,” Zimmer said. “This market will play out with who provides the experience that is the most mass market. What we are doing with community, the peer-to-peer model, and sitting up front is resonating.”

Green and Logan said that they have plans to take Lyft international soon, although they would not share details on when and where. They also have a greater vision for what Lyft can become.

“Eighty percent of seats on roads and highways are empty at all times,” Zimmer said. “This is first page and chapter of what we want to do. We want you to be able to go outside and find an empty seat, and maybe that driver has a friend in common. We want to build an information infrastructure on top of our roads for consumer transportation. That’s something that hasn’t been created yet.”

]]>0Lyft doubles rides per week as founders gear up for international expansionUber verifies $258M funding in deleted blog posthttp://venturebeat.com/2013/08/23/uber-confirms-round/
http://venturebeat.com/2013/08/23/uber-confirms-round/#commentsFri, 23 Aug 2013 22:37:42 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=802393Uber published a blog post this afternoon confirming its latest, multimillion dollar round of funding today, but quickly removed the entry. The car service filed its round with the SEC in Delaware yesterday. At the time, it looked like the company had raised over $300 million, but today Uber says the round topped at $258 million […]
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Uber published a blog post this afternoon confirming its latest, multimillion dollar round of funding today, but quickly removed the entry.

The car service filed its round with the SEC in Delaware yesterday. At the time, it looked like the company had raised over $300 million, but today Uber says the round topped at $258 million — still a ton of money. The filing also suggested that Uber, despite regulation issues in the U.S., was valued at $3.5 billion.

You can check out the blog post, as spotted by TechCrunch, in full at the bottom of this page. We have reached out to Uber for comment on why it removed the blog post and will update this story when we hear back.

TPG and Google Ventures were both involved in the round, and Uber will receive a new board member from each company. In the blog post, chief executive Travis Kalanick further explained that Uber will use the funding to expand into more markets and “fight off protectionist, anticompetitive efforts.” It is currently available in 35 different markets worldwide.

The “fighting off the anticompetitors” is a reference to the number of regulation battles Uber has faced and continues to deal with in cities such as New York, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco. In July, a group of cabbies took to San Francisco’s City Hall to complain about Uber, calling its drivers “road bandits.”

Kalanick wants to use the new relationship with Google to help fight some of these battles. The company’s chief legal officer, David Drummond, is now on Uber’s board and will be able to provide guidance on these issues. Google also has a number of vehicle-related projects that Uber could benefit from in terms of partnerships or expertise.

Why the blog post was taken down, we don’t know, but check out the text as grabbed by TechCrunch below:

As many of you have seen in the press today, Uber recently closed a financing round. We wanted to put out the official word to make sure the facts were clear and confirmed. This round is $258 million with proceeds to be used to expand into new markets, begin marketing efforts, and fight off protectionist, anti-competitive efforts.

The financing was led by Google Ventures with TPG Growth participating. David Drummond, Google’s SVP of Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer will be joining the Uber board. David Bonderman, founding partner of TPG, will also be joining the board.

The numbers on this financing are fairly substantial. It is a reflection of our growth to date and continuing success. But with this new investment, expectations naturally increase and there is a new standard of excellence and accomplishment that we seek to live up to. Our vision is to build a technology company that changes transportation and logistics in urban centers around the world and this financing gives us the fuel to make that a reality.

We couldn’t be more excited to embark on the next phase of our journey with our new partners, both truly great in their respective industries. I like to talk about this combination of investors as “Bits and Atoms.”

Bits

On one end we have Google, a technology powerhouse, with billions of users on an incredibly complementary product suite ranging from Google Maps to Android to self-driving vehicles. We look to Google for the strategic connectivity to their product initiatives alongside the expertise that comes with evangelizing new technology with governments and regulatory bodies around the world.

David Drummond is our partner at Google who will help us navigate the company and provide strategic advice as our regulatory efforts follow our launches across Europe and Asia.

Atoms

With TPG, we have partnered up with one of the most prolific private equity firms in the world. Why does that matter? How are they different than any of the traditional venture capital firms? It’s really simple: TPG owns and operates companies. The Uber deal is obviously very different, but their deep rolodex of operations executives and their regulatory know-how in highly regulated, “atoms”-based industries in the farthest corners of the globe is where TPG shines. David Bonderman’s vision and relationships will be invaluable to Uber as we become a global brand.

So that’s the news. I hope this clarifies what Uber is looking to do with this new funding, and sheds some light on the groundbreaking investment partnership we’ve put together for Uber’s next phase of growth.

Uber On,

Travis

]]>0Uber verifies $258M funding in deleted blog postElon Musk’s 800-mph Hyperloop would turn high-speed trains into snail railhttp://venturebeat.com/2013/08/12/hyperloop-plans/
http://venturebeat.com/2013/08/12/hyperloop-plans/#commentsMon, 12 Aug 2013 20:54:41 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=793252Elon Musk revealed plans for his radical new form of transportation called the Hyperloop today, and yes, it really does look cool. Musk described the capsule as being aluminum that could carry both humans and car-sized vehicles. The tubes would form a loop shape, the long-lengths of which would travel parallel to one another. They […]
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Elon Musk revealed plans for his radical new form of transportation called the Hyperloop today, and yes, it really does look cool.

Musk described the capsule as being aluminum that could carry both humans and car-sized vehicles. The tubes would form a loop shape, the long-lengths of which would travel parallel to one another. They would be made of steel, welded together, and will sit only about 100 feet apart held up by pylons. Those inside the tube could travel up to 800 miles per hour and, if traveling in a car-capsule, could simply drive out of the tube once the destination has been reached.

The capsule itself would carry 28 passengers. The capsules would leave San Francisco or L.A. every 2 minutes, or every 30 seconds during rush hour. As for a car capsule, you’ll be able to fit up to three cars inside one capusle. Musk says it will be planned so that the capsules themselves will be separated by at least 23 miles.

One of the biggest obstacles was the pressure of the air in the tube itself. Musk designed a way for the tubes to have pressure that is about one-sixth that of the pressure of Mars’ atmosphere. That’s like flying a plane at 150,000 feet. The capsules will be powered by a “linear electric motor,” which Musk describes as being like the one in the Tesla Model S, but “rolled flat.”

The capsules are equipped with emergency brakes that can be triggered by events such as a leak in a tube’s pressurizing system. The tubes all talk to one another, so to speak, and could alert other areas of the tube to an upcoming problem. In order to prevent attacks from within the tubes, the Hyperloop will have the same kind of security as airports. Whether that means the pylons holding up the Hyperloop will also be secured is unknown.

The capsules would hover above the surface of the tube as they traveled at high speeds. Musk says its highly unlike that one could get stuck in a tube, but if so, the capsule have a small engine and wheels that can deploy in emergencies. Reserve air supplies are also carried on board.

When he first spoke of his plans for the Hyperloop, he used the example of getting from San Francisco to L.A. in 30 minutes. He says the loop would actually be elevated above ground and would sit alongside California’s existing I-5 highway connecting the two major West Coast cities.

“The Hyperloop — or something similar — is, in my opinion, the right solution for the specific case of high traffic city pairs that are less than about 1,500 kilometers, 900 miles apart,” Musk said in a blog post regarding Hyperloop Alpha. “Around that inflection point, I suspect that supersonic air travel ends up being faster and cheaper.”

For some time now Musk has expressed his discontentment with the transportation available in California. He has criticized plans for a bullet train as one of the most expensive and slowest in the world, though he had to hedge saying “one of” because the person in charge of the program gave him a call.

His goals for the Hyperloop are that it be safer, faster, cheaper, more convenient, immune to weather, self-powering, earthquake-resistant, and not disruptive to the surrounding areas. Musk says the Hyperloop passenger-only version could be built for under $6 billion. It would cost closer to $7.5 billion to create it with the vehicle-carrying capsules.

Musk says that he won’t be the one to build the Hyperloop just yet. Instead, he’d like to see the community grab the specifications that he has already put out there and take the project on themselves. In his document detailing the Hyperloop Alpha, Musk even says that this is considered an “open source transportation concept.” At this point, he is just too busy running both his electric car company Tesla as well as Space-X, a rocket-building company that has hopes of bringing people into space commercially.

He, of course, says the Hyperloop is only short of figuring out real teleportation, to which he simply says, “Someone please do this.”

Real-life “Iron Man” CEO Elon Musk, who has conquered space travel and pollution-free land vehicles, will reveal designs for a mysterious 720 miles-per-hour “hyperloop” transportation system today. He’s previously called the system a cross between a “Concorde, a railgun, and an air hockey table.”

The Hyperloop is likely a closed-tube transport system not unlike the pneumatic delivery systems found in some old buildings, which use a pulse of air to move a capsule and cargo to a designated location. Based on what he has revealed to date, however, it would likely use magnetic induction for propulsion — the railgun comment — and would not operate in a complete vacuum. The system would move a passenger between LA and San Francisco in just 30 minutes.

During electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla’s conference call on Thursday last week, Musk promised to unveil plans for the Hyperloop this week. But he also said that someone else will have to step up and actually create the system.

“I think I kind of shot myself in the foot by ever mentioning the Hyperloop,” he said. “I don’t have any plans to execute because I must remain focused on SpaceX and Tesla.”

He plans to unveil designs for the Hyperloop today and to make them open source so others can improve them and use them.

“I did commit to publishing a design — provide quite a detailed design I think — on Monday, and then invite critical feedback and see if people could find ways to improve it,” Musk said on the call.

Tesla itself will not be involved in the Hyperloop, at least not initially, Musk told financial analysts and the press. The company — and Musk himself — simply have too much to focus on already. However, if no one picks up the project, it sounds like both Musk and Tesla might rethink that plan.

“If nothing happens for a few years, maybe it could make sense to take a halfway path with Tesla involvement,” Musk said.

Musk’s Hyperloop sounds very much like an idea promoted by Evacuated Tube Transport Technologies, or ET3, which theoretically would enable not just city-to-city transportation but also country to country, and even continent to continent, whisking passengers from New York to Beijing in just two hours at speeds of 4,000 mph:

Car sized passenger capsules travel in 1.5m (5′) diameter tubes on frictionless maglev. Air is permanently removed from the two-way tubes that are built along a travel route. Airlocks at stations allow transfer of capsules without admitting air. Linear electric motors accelerate the capsules, which then coast through the vacuum for the remainder of the trip using no additional power. Most of the energy is regenerated as the capsules slow down. ET3 can provide 50 times more transportation per kWh than electric cars or trains.

Speed in initial ET3 systems is 600km/h (370 mph) for in state trips, and will be developed to 6,500 km/h (4,000 mph) for international travel that will allow passenger or cargo travel from New York to Beijing in 2 hours. ET3 is networked like freeways, except the capsules are automatically routed from origin to destination.

We’ll be on the lookout for Musk’s announcement.

]]>0Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to unveil 720 mph ‘Hyperloop’ designs todayWhat's not to like about a 600 mph pneumatic people tube?http://venturebeat.com/2013/07/19/whats-not-to-like-about-a-600-mph-pneumatic-people-tube/
http://venturebeat.com/2013/07/19/whats-not-to-like-about-a-600-mph-pneumatic-people-tube/#commentsFri, 19 Jul 2013 18:00:56 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=781434Elon Musk will reveal plans for his high-speed "Hyperloop" next month. But we have a sneak peek, thanks to the audacious imagination of an independent engineer.
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Elon Musk has a plan to build a high-speed transit system that would let you go from San Francisco to Los Angeles in 30 minutes — and which would cost one-tenth as much as California’s current high-speed rail plan.

Musk initially called his “Hyperloop” concept a cross between a “Concorde, a railgun, and an air hockey table.” Then he announced, a few days ago, that he’d publish more detailed Hyperloop plans in August and that he would be seeking feedback.

But you don’t have to wait until August. We now have a pretty good idea what Musk’s plan might look like thanks to an enterprising, self-taught “tinker” named John Gardi.

Gardi’s plan — which he sketched out in Microsoft Paint and posted to Twitter — is basically a pneumatic tube with magnetic accelerators and decelerators. (Illustrator Brent Couchman prettied up Gardi’s sketch, creating the version you see here — click for a full-size version.)

This is a shining example of how independent thinkers can come up with brilliant technological ideas that outstrip the best plans that any government bureaucracy can create.

But without that bureaucracy’s consent, it will never be built.

Here’s Gardi’s plan: You’d climb into a sealed pod along with other passengers and strap yourself in, and then the magnetic accelerator would inject the pod into a compressed column of air moving at 600 miles per hour. The air would propel you — and any other pods in the tube — down the length of California. Thirty minutes later, the system would shunt your pod into a decelerator, which would use magnets to slow your pod down until it reaches the station at the other end, where you’d disembark.

Connecting pipes would be between the northbound and southbound segments, with turbines to pump the air, making the entire system into a “loop” of air moving at extremely high speeds in a continuous circle.

“Your guess is the closest I’ve seen anyone guess so far,” Musk told Gardi via Twitter after he published his sketch.

Musk also gave Gardi an important clue: He is planning for pods that are about 2 meters (6 feet) in diameter.

“The 2-meter diameter pods tells us that #HyperLoop will be an ‘ultralite’ transport system,” Gardi told me via Twitter. “This means the pods, tubes, pylons, and trusses can be made of light, strong materials. This makes elevated construction much easier.

“It will also use less energy, but the biggest plus to lightweight construction is it can be built to withstand earthquakes better.”

We’ll have to wait until Aug. 12 to see the specifics of Musk’s idea, but for now, Gardi’s sketch provides a pretty intriguing view of a truly forward-thinking transportation system.

One thing’s for sure: It beats the current plan from the California “High Speed” Rail Authority (CHSRA).

I put “High Speed” in quotes because, while California’s $69 billion plan is called that, it would actually be one of the slowest high-speed rail systems in the world, as Musk correctly pointed out a few months ago.

According to the CHSRA, the system — when it’s complete in 2029 — will make the S.F.-L.A. trip in about three hours, at speeds “over 200 miles per hour.” But at three hours for a 380-mile trip, that’s an average speed of just 125 miles per hour. Parts of it, such as the northernmost segment from San Francisco to San Jose, will go only slightly faster than the existing commuter rail system.

[Disclosure: I’m no fan of the California plan. In addition to its high cost and low speed, plans call for a giant, concrete, elevated structure that runs through one of the most densely populated parts of the state, the San Francisco Peninsula and Silicon Valley — and it would loom over my backyard. So yes, I have a personal stake in this.]

By comparison, the French TGV train system has segments with average speeds over 175 miles per hour, and its maximum speed has hit as much as 350 mph. (France started construction on the TGV in the 1970s.) A Chinese bullet train regularly averages 186 mph, making the 630-mile trip from Wuhan to Guangzhou in under four hours.

I’d like to think that someday I’ll be able to ride the Hyperloop for a short day trip to Los Angeles. But the practical side of my brain is extremely skeptical. No government is set up to embrace innovation at Musk’s speed (witness all the legal trouble Tesla is having just finding a place to sell its electric cars).

It’s doubtless that Gardi’s plan doesn’t take a host of factors into account, such as making sure that the tubes don’t leak air and figuring out how to make them safe in case something goes wrong.

And then there’s the issue of securing the right-of-way to install these pneumatic tubes. Even with lightweight construction, you still may not want a 2-meter pipe containing pressurized air and pods moving at 600 mph running through your backyard. (I’d prefer that to big concrete overpasses, but that’s just me.) That means you’d still need to secure the right-of-way, deal with political issues, ensure that there is mitigation for sound and safety issues, and so forth.

One of the reasons the proposed bullet trains will be so slow is that they make a lot of stops, which lowers the average speed for the full journey. The Hyperloop, by contrast, has just two, speeding it up and simplifying the plan. Reality is likely to be a lot more complicated.

So building the Hyperloop for just $6.9 billion seems like a pipe dream.

But as pipe dreams go, it’s a pretty good one. If the idea does nothing more than pressure the California government to rethink its basic assumptions, it will be successful. Why settle for 200 mph when you could go 600 mph?

We need more visionaries like Musk and Gardi who are willing to think about the big picture, and tackle tough problems with audacious imagination.

]]>0What's not to like about a 600 mph pneumatic people tube?Elon Musk calls for feedback on bullet train alternative ‘the Hyperloop’http://venturebeat.com/2013/07/15/elon-musk-calls-for-feedback-on-bullet-train-alternative-the-hyperloop/
http://venturebeat.com/2013/07/15/elon-musk-calls-for-feedback-on-bullet-train-alternative-the-hyperloop/#commentsMon, 15 Jul 2013 22:18:10 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=779590Musk will not pursue a patent on "the Hyperloop," a futuristic transport project that will take passengers from San Francisco to Los Angeles in 30 minutes.
]]>California’s cities may be trailing behind when it comes to public transportation. But soon we may be home to “the Hyperloop,” a transport method so futuristic and cool that Tokyo’s levitating high-speed trains will lose their luster.

Resident entrepreneur Elon Musk has been hinting for months at plans for the Hyperloop. The goal is to transport travelers from San Francisco to Los Angeles in a mere 30 minutes.

The Hyperloop is designed as an alternative to the bullet train with no reservation system — passengers can just show up and board.

Today, Musk tweeted today that he’s open to feedback on the project, and he clarified that he will not pursue a patent. Musk is the South African-American founder of SpaceX and cofounder of Tesla and Paypal — and he does not entertain small ideas.

Will publish Hyperloop alpha design by Aug 12. Critical feedback for improvements would be much appreciated.

Musk intends to push forward with plans next month, but it’s still not clear how the Hyperloop will work. He has hinted that the Hyperloop won’t be affected by weather, so it may run in an enclosed capsule.

One of the most in-depth explanations comes from writer Brian Dobson, who suggests it may be a “pneumatic transport system (PTS) in the form of a closed tube that loops between Los Angeles and San Francisco.”

Travelers would ride in a capsule at around 621 miles per hour with very little air drag.

Cool, right? What are your thoughts on the Hyperloop? How will the physics work? Let us know in the comment section below.

]]>0Elon Musk calls for feedback on bullet train alternative ‘the Hyperloop’Uber adds fare-splitting feature so you don’t get stuck with the billhttp://venturebeat.com/2013/07/15/uber-adds-fare-splitting-feature-so-you-dont-get-stuck-with-the-bill/
http://venturebeat.com/2013/07/15/uber-adds-fare-splitting-feature-so-you-dont-get-stuck-with-the-bill/#commentsMon, 15 Jul 2013 21:36:15 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=779479Threeways in an Uber car are now really easy. Threeway fare-splits, that is.
]]>Threeways in an Uber car are now really easy. Threeway fare-splits, that is.

Uber released a new feature today that makes it dead-simple to split ride fares other people. All you have to do is tap the split fare button and add people to split with. They receive a notification to accept the charge, and once confirmed, Uber will take care of the math. This nifty little feature makes Uber’s service more convenient and affordable, and it gives it a greater edge in an increasingly congested and competitive market.

The fare splitting feature is not only useful and convenient for passengers, but also makes Uber more affordable. Since one person hails the car, that person generally ends up paying, and figuring out how to split a fare can be awkward. Do you just quietly pay for the whole ride? Do you ask your fellow riders to pay you back? Do you ask someone else to get the ride home or buy you a drink in exchange? This nifty little feature eliminates the need for those questions.

Uber is an on-demand transportation app that seeks to be “everyone’s private driver.” It started out offering a black car service and emphasized luxury as a cornerstone of its brand. Uber’s black cars are more expensive than taxis, and it often attracts customers with comfortable amounts of disposable income who are willing to pay double the price for a higher-end experience.

The company has since added in SUV, Taxi, and UberX (a cheaper midrange car option) to make the service more affordable. Prices on the uberX service with eco-friendly cars are about 10 percent lower than what taxis charge. CEO Travis Kalanick also announced recently that he intended to roll out ride-sharing on the existing Uber platform, posing a direct threat to companies like Lyft and SideCar that operate on a community ride-sharing model. Uber is currently in 35 markets, but Lyft is a popular alternative in six of them. At first, Uber refrained from ride-sharing due to regulatory risk, but “ambiguity” encouraged him to implement ride-sharing as part of the app in “any market where the regulators have given tacit approval.”

“This course of nonaction resulted in massive regulatory ambiguity leading to one-sided competition which Uber has not engaged in to its own disadvantage,” Kalanick said in a white paper. “In the face of this challenge, Uber could have chosen to do nothing. We could have chosen to use regulation to thwart our competitors. Instead, we chose the path that reflects our company’s core: We chose to compete.”

Kalanick is known for being fearsomely competitive and adopting aggressive business strategies. Shortly after competitor Lyft announced raising $60 million in new funding, rumors emerged that Uber is amassing hundreds of millions of dollars in a war chest to accelerate its international growth and compete with taxi companies and ride-sharing startups alike.

]]>0Uber adds fare-splitting feature so you don’t get stuck with the billPutting ‘uber’ back into uber-rich: Uber launches SUV, chopper service to Hamptonshttp://venturebeat.com/2013/07/01/putting-uber-back-into-uber-rich-uber-launches-suv-chopper-service-to-hamptons/
http://venturebeat.com/2013/07/01/putting-uber-back-into-uber-rich-uber-launches-suv-chopper-service-to-hamptons/#commentsMon, 01 Jul 2013 18:25:07 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=772798Uber has announced a new summer SUV service to the Hamptons. To kick off this extravagant new offering, Uber will celebrate with a limited time offer for on-demand rides via private helicopter.
]]>Nothing says summer like a warm breeze in your hair, weekend trips to the beach, and throwing down $3,000 on a private helicopter.

Uber has announced a new summer SUV service to the Hamptons in its most recent effort to separate the nobles from the plebeians. To kick off this highly essential and disruptive service, Uber will celebrate with UberCHOPPER — a limited-time offer on July 3 where, “with the push of a button,” you will be chauffeured to your closest NYC helipad and delivered to your Hamptons destination.

For those who (for whatever reason) are not interested in a private helicopter but still can’t bear to drive themselves to the Hamptons or *gasp* take the Jitney, UberSUV is coming to the rescue. For the reasonable price of $500, Uber will “get you safely and swiftly to dinner at Southampton Social Club, drinks at Montauk’s Surf Lodge, and all points in between.” The best part? You won’t have to interact with the common folk.

The SUVs accommodate up to six people (of your careful and discerning choosing), and the service will be available through Labor Day weekend.

Uber is an on-demand transportation app that seeks to be “everyone’s private driver.” The company started out offering a black car service and has since expanded into taxis, ride-sharing, and lower cost private cars, but luxury is still a cornerstone of its brand. Uber black cars are significantly more expensive than taxis, and during surge periods, the cost for all the services can double. Uber’s main clientele are the young, the urban, and those with comfortable amounts of disposable income.

The company may be close-lipped about its funding, but it was more than willing to share the details of this “amazing” new service. The commute to the Hamptons often involves hours upon hours of terrible traffic. If you have to be stuck in gridlock, you might as well feel like a baller while doing it.

Everybody who is anybody summers in the Hamptoms after all, and you wouldn’t want them to see you clambering out of a Zipcar (the shame!).

Perhaps I’m being unfair. After all, New Yorkers work very hard for their money, and if they choose to spend it on luxurious transportation instead of, say, anything else, who am I to judge? I live across the country in San Francisco, where a BART strike has crippled public transportation and caused commuter chaos because the two largest unions of SF’s BART system are requesting a pay raise of 8 percent over the next four years. How very selfish and greedy of them.

Taking public transportation is, after all, much better for the environment than driving a car. Or an SUV. Or a private helicopter. But global warming isn’t really a pressing concern. Carbon dioxide may have passed a “long-feared milestone” in May 2013 — surpassing 400 parts per million and underscoring the ever-increasing need for private companies, government, and citizens alike to take action — but beaches are meant to be hot. Who has time to be mindful of the environment when there are other beautiful people to hobnob with and fresh lobster to eat?

It’s not like this is the first time Uber or the tech community has embraced extravagant transportation. Uber cofounder Garrett Camp launched BlackJet in 2012, a service that allows you to book passage on private jets with empty seats. And by “you,” I mean rich people, but Camp told VentureBeat his ultimate goal is to make travel by private jet almost the same price as business class on a standard airline.

These services are fundamentally about creating a better user experience and bringing an aura of class and luxury to travel. Renting a car for a long weekend or taking a regular cab out to the Hamptons will still rack up a bill of a few hundred dollars, so maybe I’ve been too quick to judge. Or maybe I am just pouting that I have to cram into a Honda hatchback with 4 other people to go on my Fourth of July vacation.

]]>0Putting ‘uber’ back into uber-rich: Uber launches SUV, chopper service to HamptonsFlywheel 4.0 drives through the traffic jam of taxi apps (exclusive)http://venturebeat.com/2013/06/12/flywheel-4-0-drives-through-traffic-jam-of-taxi-apps-exclusive/
http://venturebeat.com/2013/06/12/flywheel-4-0-drives-through-traffic-jam-of-taxi-apps-exclusive/#commentsWed, 12 Jun 2013 15:00:54 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=756017Flywheel (formerly known as Cabulous) released major updates today to its application today that provides existing taxis and fleets with rider-friendly features like e-hailing, in-app payment, and a ratings system.
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While ride-sharing startups are changing the cab industry from the outside, Flywheel is taking it on from within.

Formerly known as Cabulous, Flywheel released major updates to its application today that provides existing taxis and fleets with e-hailing technology.

Flywheel 4.0 for iOS has a new EasyPay feature. Riders use it to pay from their smartphone rather than paying with cash or a credit card. The company also added rating drivers, and they have a good incentive to earn high ratings: more fares. New Foursquare integration also means you can call a cab to a specific location without knowing the street address.

These new capabilities give regular cabs the same benefits and conveniences as e-hailing and ride-sharing services like Uber, Hailo, SideCar, and Lyft. These companies all offer smartphone apps for calling cabs to your location (and track the cars’ progress) as well as a rating system that ensure quality and seamless digital payments. Consumers have responded well to this approach, and despite legal battles, these startups are continuing their expansion. Flywheel’s approach is to trick out traditional taxi cabs with these rider-friendly features so they can keep their business while also increasing efficiency and cutting down on costs.

“Most city dwellers want to get fast, reliable, and safe rides to wherever they are going,” said CEO Steve Humphreys in an interview with VentureBeat. “Ninety-nine percent of all paid-rides in the U.S. still go through taxis, but they can be difficult from a reliability and easy-of-payment standpoint. Taxis exist, in some form, in virtually every city in the world. Our vision is to create a more consistently reliable, convenient, and cost-effective paid-ride experience anywhere. We believe the technical and consumer improvements engendered by the Flywheel app are critical to urban progress.”

Flywheel is essentially trying to move an old, stagnant, cash-based business online and adapt it to a mobile world that improves operations for taxis and the experience for consumers.

“Paid transportation is going through major, tectonic shifts,” Humphreys said. “External disruptors like Uber are forcing change at every level by cutting out much of the infrastructure that has been built up over the past two centuries. Flywheel is leveraging technology to help taxi fleets and drivers ward off the threat by these ride-sharing companies and, more specifically, non-trained and regulated, community drivers.

Transportation startups (like the ones mentioned above) present a significant threat to traditional taxi companies (and the regulators that oversee them). They continue to raise money, enter new markets, and hire drivers, and they are gaining increasingly large shares of the market. Humphreys said that rivals are trying to re-create the entire taxi infrastructure one car, one driver at a time, whereas Flywheel is giving existing fleets and drivers tools to remain competitive.

Flywheel has over 2,500 regulated taxi cabs in its fleet and revenues have gone up fivefold since the beginning of 2013. The company also has list of dozens of fleets around the country waiting to join.

It was founded in 2010 as Cabulous and rebranded as Flywheel in December. It is backed by $8 million from Shasta Ventures, Rockport Capital, Sandhill Angels, and Band of Angels.

]]>0Flywheel 4.0 drives through the traffic jam of taxi apps (exclusive)RelayRides acquires Wheelz to zoom ahead in car-sharing racehttp://venturebeat.com/2013/05/14/relayrides-acquires-wheelz-to-zoom-ahead-in-car-sharing-race/
http://venturebeat.com/2013/05/14/relayrides-acquires-wheelz-to-zoom-ahead-in-car-sharing-race/#commentsTue, 14 May 2013 16:45:09 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=737321Today, car sharing startup RelayRides announced that it has acquired competitor Wheelz to accelerate its growth.
]]>The car-sharing space is beginning to resemble a NASCAR race, with a multiple contestants putting the pedal to the floor in an effort to break ahead. Today, car-sharing startup RelayRides announced that it has acquired competitor Wheelz to accelerate its growth.

RelayRides is a peer-to-peer car sharing marketplace where people can offer their cars for daily or weekly rentals. Wheelz adopted a similar model as well as proprietary DriveBox technology that facilitates keyless access to cars. With this acquisition, RelayRides will absorb Wheelz and its marketplace, technology, and several “key people” from the Wheelz team.

“RelayRides has been growing rapidly and we are confident that this acquisition will turbo-charge our growth,” said RelayRides director of communications Steve Webb to VentureBeat. “We are going to be better positioned to extend the benefits of peer-to-peer car sharing to more people across the U.S. This acquisition demonstrates that the peer-to-peer car sharing marketplace is maturing and consolidating. As an industry matures, consolidation follows, and the peer-to-peer car sharing industry is no exception. We are witnessing the evolution and maturation of an exciting space.”

Webb said that RelayRides and Wheelz share the goal of having a car within a 10-minute walk for at least 100 million Americans by the end of 2015. Instead of owning a car or renting one from an agency, people can turn to services like RelayRides for a more personal and affordable mode of transportation. Each car on the site has a profile with information about its features, ratings and reviews, and owner bio. All drivers are screened, and RelayRides provides insurance on the rentals, so drivers don’t have to worry about damages.

RelayRides and Wheelz are part of a trend surrounding “the rise of disownership.” Consumer attitudes and behaviors surrounding renting, borrowing, and leasing items, versus ownership, are shifting across the country. People are increasingly engaging in disownership by putting their under-used property to work. Internet startups facilitated this movement by adopting ‘shared economy’ or ‘collaborative consumption’ models that connect people with available assets to people who need them. AirBnB did this for homes, TaskRabbit for services, but the transportation space is still a dynamic and crowded area. Uber, Lyft, and Sidecar can be used instead of taxis, and RelayRides is providing an alternative to traditional rental agencies. It mainly competes with Zipcar and Getaround.

Since launching in 2012, RelayRides added tens of thousands of members into its marketplace and thousands of postings for cars. Webb said rental reassertion hours increased by 500 percent and April was the company’s best month yet in terms of revenue and new members added. By scooping up Wheelz, RelayRides will expand its marketplace.

RelayRides has raised $13 million in venture capital. In 2012, it teamed up with General Motors so that 6 million of GM’s OnStar subscribers could rent out their cars using RelayRides. Wheelz had raised a total of $15.7 million and includes Zipcar has an investor. Both companies are headquartered in San Francisco.

]]>0RelayRides acquires Wheelz to zoom ahead in car-sharing raceSideCar and Hailo CEOs slug it out over taxis, ride-sharing, & morehttp://venturebeat.com/2013/05/01/sidecar-hailo-ceos-slug-it-out/
http://venturebeat.com/2013/05/01/sidecar-hailo-ceos-slug-it-out/#commentsWed, 01 May 2013 16:01:42 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=728890Transportation startups are a hot thing now, but the space is a battleground, and the tension was clear to see onstage today at TechCrunch Disrupt.
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Transportation startups are a hot thing now, with Uber, Hailo, SideCar, Lyft, and others getting a lot of attention and controversy. But this space is a battleground with regulators attempting to stop innovation and some startups getting more favorable treatment than others.

The CEOs of ride-sharing service SideCar and taxi-hailing app Hailo showed that tension in a combative panel today at TechCrunch Disrupt NY.

SideCar CEO Sunil Paul (pictured, right) took a lot of shots throughout the conversation. His biggest target was New York City’s Taxi & Limousine Commission (TLC). He said the TLC is using its power to protect taxis and apps that coordinate with the industry like Hailo and Uber.

“The TLC protects the taxi industry, and I don’t think anyone can deny that fact,” Paul said. “SideCar driver shifts are voluntarily and payment is voluntary. It is the regulation of taxis that is an illegal restraint of trade.”

Paul is understandably frustrated. This past weekend, New York City police targeted SideCar drivers in a sting operation. In a blog post, the company wrote that a SideCar driver named Sandra was interrogated by police and her new car was impounded.

“People are being treated like criminals for doing something that might threaten the taxi industry,” Paul said. “Sharing is not a crime. We want to make sharing possible in New York.”

By comparison, Hailo and Uber have just received approval from the TLC to operate e-hailing taxi services in NYC. With a few taps on your smartphone, you can now have a taxi come pick you up wherever you are in the city.

Hailo CEO Jay Bregman said he was happy about the development. He took the jabs from Paul quietly but finally responded when he’d had enough. Bregman said his company was part of a “broadening” taxi industry that has begun to innovate.

He said his service had paid out “millions” to taxi drivers in cities where Hailo already operates. He praised taxi drivers for embracing innovation. Paul said he didn’t have a problem with drivers, but with governments.

“Taxi drivers are great, but they are protected by a monopoly,” Paul said.

Hailo has only been operating in cities around the world for 14 months, so Bregman also said he was pleased that it only took that amount of time before the TLC approved his service.

“You can be disruptive without being abrasive,” Bregman said.

Paul shrugged off Bregman’s comment, saying, “If you want to be disruptive, you have to be willing to piss people off.”

At the end of the panel, the two did eventually hug, but it’s understandable why they are so at odds at the moment.

]]>0SideCar and Hailo CEOs slug it out over taxis, ride-sharing, & moreLyft and SideCar, beware! Uber storms the arena of ride-sharinghttp://venturebeat.com/2013/04/12/lyft-and-sidecar-beware-uber-storms-the-arena-of-ride-sharing/
http://venturebeat.com/2013/04/12/lyft-and-sidecar-beware-uber-storms-the-arena-of-ride-sharing/#commentsFri, 12 Apr 2013 19:22:40 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=715505Uber founder Travis Kalanick declared his intention to roll out ride-sharing on the existing platform, posing a direct threat to companies like Lyft and SideCar that operate on a community ride-sharing model.
]]>Uber founder Travis Kalanick takes the gladiator approach to entrepreneurship. Today in a blog post, he declared his intention to roll out ride-sharing on the existing Uber platform, posing a direct threat to companies like Lyft and SideCar that operate on a community ride-sharing model.

With this “Policy White Paper 1.0,” Kalanick stated that while at first Uber refrained from participating in ride-sharing due to regulatory risk, the “ambiguity” has encouraged him to implement ride-sharing as part of the app in “any market where the regulators have given tacit approval.”

“In most cities across the country, regulators have chosen not to enforce against nonlicensed transportation providers using ride-sharing apps,” he said. “This course of nonaction resulted in massive regulatory ambiguity leading to one-sided competition which Uber has not engaged in to its own disadvantage. … In the face of this challenge, Uber could have chosen to do nothing. We could have chosen to use regulation to thwart our competitors. Instead, we chose the path that reflects our company’s core: We chose to compete.”

Uber will now offer a ride-sharing feature in markets where a competitor has operated for 30 days without direct enforcement against them. There will be safety and insurance safeguards that “go beyond what local regulatory bodies have in place for commercial transportation,” including a $2 million insurance policy and extensive background checks on the drivers.

Kalanick said that while ride-sharing apps operate without traditional commercial insurance or licensing, Uber has taken most of the legal heat despite that its approach involves buying cars as well as having proper insurance and licenses. After watching regulators in New York, Seattle, Chicago, Boston, and California choose not to enforce “nonlicensed operators” such as Lyft, Kalanick will no longer sit on the sidelines.

He founded Uber because he was frustrated with the existing transportation options in cities and wanted to provide a superior alternative. Ride-sharing systems like Lyft and SideCar hold a similar goal: to offer on-demand, convenient, affordable rides to city residents.

Uber first started with its on-demand black car service and has since added SUV, Taxi, and UBERx, a cheaper midrange car option. Since the beginning, Uber has faced significant opposition from municipal regulators and transportation agencies (not to mention taxi cab companies) and has fought battles around the country to remain operational. Kalanick is known for never shying from a battle. He has consistently fought for his company’s right to exist, while at the same time growing Uber into an international company and adding new modes of transportation.

“Competition is fun,” he said. “If there isn’t competition, what is the freaking purpose? Let’s have some fun and make the world a better place at the same time. You have to be fighter, you have to be a warrior, and if not, you should go do something that is a little less disruptive. I’m bringing it, I’m not sleeping. If the other guy is sleeping, I am going to kick his ass.”

Ride-sharing is starting to resemble a melee, with iPhones and pink mustaches as weapons. The question on my mind is that faced with legal opposition from regulators: Will these competitors band together? Competition may be good, but they all have the same enemies and the same battles to fight. Let the games begin.

]]>0Lyft and SideCar, beware! Uber storms the arena of ride-sharingUber expands ‘uberverse’ with new Android, Blackberry, Windows appshttp://venturebeat.com/2013/03/25/uber-expands-uberverse-with-new-android-blackberyy-windows-apps/
http://venturebeat.com/2013/03/25/uber-expands-uberverse-with-new-android-blackberyy-windows-apps/#commentsMon, 25 Mar 2013 18:02:49 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=704980Uber's new app releases will help expand its user base and continue disrupting the taxi industry around the world.
]]>James Bond and Uber share an appreciation for efficient and sleek transportation. At least, this is the angle Uber went for in an announcement on the company blog this morning.

The on-demand car service has released a new Android app with the same “new paint, chrome rims” as the iPhone app, which was updated in December to make the Uber app “as elegant and comfortable as the ride.” Features include integration with Foursquare’s location database, so users don’t need to know their exact address, and saved frequent pickup locations, as well as a fare estimate calculator.

Additionally, Blackberry and Windows phone users now have access to Uber for the first time.

These new apps complement Uber’s aggressive geographical and team expansion, which are geared towards turning the company into “everyone’s private driver.” Since launching its first luxury black car offering in 2009, Uber has added taxi, SUV, and UberX into its suite of products to make it more accessible and affordable.

Kalanick is extremely vocal about his belief that the taxi cab industry is broken and his unflagging commitment to disrupting it. Uber’s passionate and active user base has been instrumental in keeping Uber afloat while city commissioners and regulators were trying to shut it down. Bringing the app to more users will only expand its community and keep Uber marching along in its battle to create a taxi system that is convenient, and even pleasant, for consumers. Even if your average night out “doesn’t include taking down super-villains.”

]]>0Uber expands ‘uberverse’ with new Android, Blackberry, Windows appsJoyride’s voice-activated mobile apps ‘turn cars into starships’http://venturebeat.com/2013/03/25/joyrides-voice-activated-mobile-apps-turn-cars-into-starships/
http://venturebeat.com/2013/03/25/joyrides-voice-activated-mobile-apps-turn-cars-into-starships/#commentsMon, 25 Mar 2013 13:00:38 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=703896Joyride is building a voice-activated mobile applications that turns the millions of hours Americans spend driving into a safe, entertaining experience.
]]>Americans spend 45 billion hours a year in the car, which is more than four times as much time as they spend on Facebook.

Joyride seeks to make this time more fun with voice-activated mobile applications that provide a safe and social way to spend the driving hours. The startup is launching publicly today after presenting off-the-record at the Founder Den Demo Day last week and announcing $1 million in funding.

Founders Jeff Chen and James Zhang previously developed Skyvi, a voice-activated media app which is like Siri for Android. They applied this expertise to creating the VoiceUI Architecture platform that forms Joyride’s foundation.

“We are not talking about a simple ‘navigate’ or text command,” said Chen during an interview at VentureBeat. “We are talking about a full-blown rich mobile application that is 100 percent hands-free and brings all the social fun pieces of the Internet to you while you are driving.”

The first application built on this voice platform is a trivia game. Your phone asks you questions about historical figures, landmarks, or events (and more) and provides clues. When you have a guess, you say it out loud, and you score points for being right. The game is what Chen describes as “fake synchronous.” You are neither playing against other people in real time or against a machine. Instead, you are matched against other players whose activity was already saved in the system. It gives the illusion of social connectivity — without the behind-the-wheel dangers.

“Internet penetration of the car is a big macro trend, and Internet usage in the car is inevitable,” Chen said. “Voice tech is finally getting really good, and with cloud services and connected devices, we are really seeing voice recognition where it can be great.

“The third factor here is social. People are super-bored while they are driving, and we think people want a social experience that is a safer alternative to mobile apps.”

The technology’s design has three criteria, according to CTO James Zhang. The first is a “reusable voice user interface” (VUI) that maintains data about certain commands. The second is how it handles arbitrary user input, or knowing what interactions apply to the app and which don’t. Third is the “equal coexistence” of voice and gesture user interface, all connected to the driver through the smartphone’s connectivity and an AUX jack or Bluetooth.

Down the road, Joyride plans to build a diverse library of applications on top of this platform that provide engaging in-car experiences.

“The most important thing is that people are suffering in their cars,” Chen said. “They are these tiny little boxes with tiny little windows and we are going to turn cars into starships and make it fun and interesting and even safer. This is just the beginning. It is a cool, untapped area that has a lot of potential.”

Investors see potential here, too. Freestyle Capital and the Cowboy Venture Fund, as well as angel investor Seth Goldstein, provided seed financing to to build out the engineering team and accelerate entrance into the market.

]]>0Joyride’s voice-activated mobile apps ‘turn cars into starships’Kayak analyzes a billion queries to uncover secrets behind cheap flightshttp://venturebeat.com/2013/03/21/kayak-analyzes-a-billion-queries-to-uncover-secrets-behind-cheap-flights/
http://venturebeat.com/2013/03/21/kayak-analyzes-a-billion-queries-to-uncover-secrets-behind-cheap-flights/#commentsThu, 21 Mar 2013 21:58:36 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=703755Kayak's most recent data pull yields the best flight deals, busiest airports, and most popular destinations, and provides tips on how to save money on travel.
]]>There is nowhere like Nashville in September, if you are trying to save money on flights that is.

The overall airfare increased to all popular destinations in 2012, with the one exception of Toronto, Canada. Las Vegas was the most popular destination in 2012, along with Orlando, Chicago, Fort Lauderdale, and Denver.

Kayak found that September is the cheapest month for domestic travel with an average fare of $296.97. January and October follow closely behind with average airfares of $305.70 ad $310.62 respectively. If you want to travel during the summer, August is the least expensive month for domestic trips. To get for cheapest fares, travelers should book between 21 and 3 days before departure.

For those internationally bound, February and March are the cheapest months to fly, but will still cost travelers around $950. Airfare increases in April and May. For both international and domestic queries, January and February are the least busy times to fly.

Another interesting metric are destinations that are growing in popularity. Punta Cana, Santo Domingo, Tokyo, Mumbai, and Nashville all went up in terms of bookings while their prices stayed the same. London, Anchorage, New Orleans and Beijing also rose in popularity, but also in terms of cost. Airfare to Lima, Peru increased by thirty-three percent, despite the fact that its popularity dropped by sixteen percent.

Unfortunately, airfare is expensive regardless of when and where you are going. Those of us with budgets (and without planes of our own), need to pinch pennies where we can so there is more money left over for fun whenever you arrive.

So who is in for a Fall trip to Nashville? I hear Taylor Swift is performing, although tickets to that concert could cost more than the flight. Decisions, decisions.

]]>1Kayak analyzes a billion queries to uncover secrets behind cheap flightsFirst glimmers of Avis-Zipcar acquisition appear at NYC airportshttp://venturebeat.com/2013/03/20/first-glimmers-of-avis-zipcar-acquisition-appear-at-nyc-airports/
http://venturebeat.com/2013/03/20/first-glimmers-of-avis-zipcar-acquisition-appear-at-nyc-airports/#commentsWed, 20 Mar 2013 17:01:28 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=702847Just days after the Avis officially acquires Zipcar, a small number of zipcars pop up at NYC regional airports.
]]>Avis wasted no time putting its new fleet of Zipcars to use.

“The availability of Zipcars at airports will provide increased options for members who may not need a full day rental car, or for those who need to travel somewhere not easily accessible by public transit,” Zipcar president Mark Norman said. “We believe this is the first in many new offerings that will enhance the value of Zipcar membership that we can provide thanks to the support of the Avis Budget Group.”

This small expansion to airports is just the beginning. Norman said Zipcars will be available in additional airport locations over the course of the year, marking a departure from Zipcar’s traditional placement in cities and college campuses.

“By combining with Zipcar, we will significantly increase our growth potential, both in the United States and internationally, and will position our company to better serve a greater variety of consumer and commercial transportation needs,” Avis Budget Group CEO Ronald Nelson said in a statement. “We see car sharing as highly complementary to traditional car rental, with rapid growth potential and representing a scalable opportunity for us as a combined company.”

Zipcar now operates as a subsidiary of Avis. Avis said it expects “to generate $50 to $70 million in annual synergies” in relation to the deal.

In its push to grow beyond its San Francisco roots, ride-sharing service SideCar has reportedly purchased Austin, Texas-based competitor Heyride, according to an AllThingsD report published today.

The acquisition probably has something to do with the SXSW conference that’s held in Austin every year in early March. And as a new resident of this fair city, I can attest to its horrible traffic congestion during the morning and evening rush, which will undoubtedly be worse with an enormous event happening. That said, ride sharing services will likely see plenty of use during SXSW.

Much like SideCar, Heyride is an iPhone app that searches your immediate area for people who are available to transport you around town for a fee. That fee is determined prior to someone picking you up, and the transaction is done entirely over your smartphone, which eliminates awkward situations that involve breaking large bills or being surprised that the driver doesn’t have a credit card machine. You’re able to track your ride using the smartphone’s GPS and rate drivers once you’ve been dropped off.

Buying Heyride is a smart move for SideCar. Not only will it gain Heyride’s local user base, but it’ll also put the spotlight on SideCar and potentially take attention away from rival ride sharing service Lyft.

We’ve reached out to SideCar for more details about the acquisition as well as its plans for SXSW. And as always, we’ll update this post with any new information.